Abstract
The detection of p-nitrophenol (PNP) is of great significance for assessment of environment pollution and potential health risks. In this study, based on inverse opal polymeric photonic crystals (IOPPCs), a selective and visual sensor for high-performance PNP detection is developed. Due to their unique optical properties, IOPPCs report events by change of color, which can easily be observed by the naked eye. Hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) was selected as the functional monomer with which to fabricate the IOPPCs. By precisely adjusting the molar ratio between the functional monomer and the crosslinker, the sensors were only able to be sensitive to a specific solution, thus realizing the visual, selective, and semi-quantitative detection of PNP. When the sensors were immersed in different concentrations of PNP solution, their Bragg diffraction wavelengths showed different redshifts. The color of the IOPPCs changed from green to red as the peak shift of Bragg diffraction occurred. In addition, the IOPPCs displayed good interference immunity and reusability.
Highlights
Introduction pNitrophenol (PNP), known as 4-nitrophenol, is a typical phenolic compound
Six kinds of inverse opal polymeric photonic crystals (IOPPCs) were fabricated using functional monomers such as methacrylic acid, acrylic acid, methyl methacrylate, 2-chloroacrylonitrile, acrylonitrile, and hydroxyethyl methacrylate, respectively, and their response performances were tested in 30 mM PNP aqueous solution
The Bragg diffraction peak of the sensor with Hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) as a functional monomer red shifted by 51 nm, which was significantly more than that of the sensors with other functional monomers. The reason for this is that the sensor built by HEMA is more sensitive to PNP solution and its volume swelling leads to a red shift of the diffraction peak
Summary
Nitrophenol (PNP), known as 4-nitrophenol, is a typical phenolic compound. Enormous usage of PNP is harmful to environment and especially to water, causing serious water pollution [2,3,4]. PNP has been found to be a highly toxic, carcinogenic, degradation-resistant and bioaccumulative compound which can the damage human nervous system, hemopoietic system, heart, liver, and kidneys, etc. It has been listed as a priority pollutant for human beings and ecological environments [1,2,3,4]. The detection of PNP is of great significance for assessment of environmental pollution and potential health risks
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